Lightspeed POS Review — Lightspeed Commerce

Lightspeed Commerce is ideal for retail businesses with big inventories of barcoded items, such as sports stores, jewelry stores, clothing stores, toy and hobby stores, pet stores, or furniture sellers.

However, it doesn't work well with grocery stores, florists, pawnshops, antique stores, DIY stores, haberdasheries, warehouses, drop-shipping companies, or storage facilities. This is because it doesn't integrate with weighing scales, or offer fractional quantities or expiry dates for products.

We also wouldn't recommend Lightspeed for service-based businesses, such as hairdressers or tattoo parlors, while Lightspeed is unable to provide POS systems to businesses selling motorized vehicles, including boats.

While Lightspeed might not be able to serve every type of business on the market, those it can help will reap serious rewards. It has great business development features, including strong customer loyalty and CRM add-ons, as well as strong omnichannel capabilities including ecommerce and online ordering. It also has a very strong till, which your employees will find a joy to use.

With the current impact of the COVID-19 pandemic seriously harming the bottom line of many a business, anything that can alleviate the challenges presented this year should be welcomed. The Lightspeed POS won't fix everything, but it will certainly provide a pain-free POS system, allowing you to focus your attention on more important areas of your business – and you can now get started for free.

Our review unpacks the main features to expect from the Lightspeed POS, before examining the support options available and how its price plans work.

Lightspeed POS Plans and Pricing

Lightspeed offers four pricing plans – Lean, Standard, Advanced, and a bespoke option with custom quotes, Enterprise.

Lightspeed is relatively expensive compared to its competitors. We'd suggest that the Standard plan is likely to be the best fit for most businesses – retail ecommerce sales are more essential than ever, so it pays to have a POS that can integrate with your website.

Lightspeed Pricing Plans Comparison

In this review:

• Lightspeed POS Plans and Pricing
• Lightspeed POS: Core Features
• Lightspeed POS Setup and Customer Support
• Lightspeed POS Alternatives
• Lightspeed POS – The Verdict

Lightspeed Lean plan

The entry-level Lean tier is aimed at small businesses. It costs $69 per month when billed annually, or $79 when billed monthly. For that, customers get a retail POS and payments system with a free terminal included.

In past years, Lightspeed charged a flat $29 per month rate across all plans to add each additional register beyond the first one. Now, however, they recommend that those running multiple locations get in touch for a quote.

You'll also have to decide whether your business uses the Lightspeed Payments system to process payments. Sticking with Lightspeed's own processor will make life easier, but if you choose to switch from Lightspeed at any point, there might be a bit more legwork involved. Lightspeed charges 2.6% + 10¢ for every transaction, which is fairly standard for the industry (Card-not-present rate: 2.6% + 30¢). These transaction fees remain the same across all plans.

Lightspeed Standard plan

The Lightspeed Standard plan allows you to hook up your online store sales to your in-person sales with it's ecommerce features. You'll also get the ability to integrate a third-party accounting platform into Lightspeed. This should cut down on manual paperwork for you, though you'll have to pay $119 per month or $139 per month, depending on whether you choose annual or monthly billing.

Lightspeed Advanced plan

For $199 per month (paid annually) or $239 per month (paid monthly), you'll get the Advanced tier. This plan adds omnichannel customer loyalty features, including a rewards program. This means Lightspeed will track your customers' purchases, and prompt you to reward your biggest fans with discounts, free gifts, or other nice treats. This plan is also the first one to let users access and analyze sales data, which can help you optimize your operation.

Lightspeed Enterprise plan

There is also an Enterprise tier, which is aimed at large businesses. It is a bespoke package that will be designed around your business, and one that Lightspeed will price up for you on request.

The big benefits to this plan are its many consultation services: Unlimited personalized onboarding and launch services, general consultation, and API consultation and support. Enterprises with this plan  will get both a dedicated premium support team and a dedicated customer success manager. Finally, they'll get “preferred Lightspeed Payments rates,” although the company does not make these rates public.

Don't forget that there is a 14-day free trial that you can check out before committing to Lightspeed long term. You can get permanently free POS systems, too, but that isn't always the best idea.

Lightspeed Hardware Costs

Lightspeed offers hardware kits for iPads, MacOS devices, and Windows PCs, as well as selling compatible items individually.

However, it doesn't make the prices for these packages (or even the individual items) public – you'll have to head to the company directly for a quote.

Find out more about Lightspeed Commerce hardware below.

Lightspeed POS Pricing vs Competitors

Lightspeed, much to its chagrin we're sure, isn't the only POS company out there. In fact, the market is awash with POS companies claiming to offer you the best option for less.

So how does Lightspeed compare? It's a bit more expensive than some of its competitors, sure, but its quality of features and UI still make it a strong choice.

Lightspeed has also recently acquired ShopKeep and Upserve, two more specialized POS providers, which should see it bring some more features to the table soon.

Lightspeed POS: Core Features

Sales

Lightspeed Commerce users can create or search for a customer profile, before inputting the items they're buying or simply scanning them with a barcode scanner.

Once ready, the employee can ring up the order for credit, debit, check, cash, PayPal, or a combination. Then the staffer can either print or email the receipt.

Lightspeed also offers PCI-compliant payment processing, and a fully integrated system to protect from human error and fraud.

Customers

Customers can be tracked via Lightspeed's suite of CRM tools, allowing stores to give individual customers statuses like “VIP” or “regular”, and to create email lists for targeted marketing campaigns.

An individual customer's sales history allows managers to make smart decisions about which items are most popular, or which future purchases to suggest to a specific customer. Support for a customer loyalty or gift card program is also available.

The support is also omnichannel, meaning it will work for in-store and online sales, and work across email and direct messaging.

Inventory

Items can be quickly imported from a CSV or Excel file, and users can add additional style, size, and color specifications to each item.

In addition, pre-loaded catalogs available on the Lightspeed Commerce POS allow users to restock their inventory directly from the system. Inventory can also be checked from the mobile app while on the go.

What's more, Lightspeed has created its own Supplier Network, which allows businesses to access products from a number of dedicated suppliers. Products will be automatically integrated into your POS upon order, and you might even get them at reduced rates.

Ecommerce Integrations

A single store inventory can be sold both in-person and through an online storefront, for a consistent brand experience.

Customer data can be tracked across both channels as well, giving managers an accurate picture of their shopping habits. Websites can be set up easily through Lightspeed, thanks to the ready-made templates on offer. Integrations make it possible to sell directly through Facebook as well. Of course, if ecommerce really matters to you and your POS, Shopify might be a better fit.

Lightspeed and WooCommerce Integration

Lightspeed has strong integration with ecommerce platform WooCommerce. It costs $149 per year to integrate the services but, in return, you'll have a seamlessly linked online store (through WooCommerce) and point of sale system (through Lightspeed).

Your inventory and sales will be automatically tracked, meaning that operating your online and offline businesses is far easier. Plus, it will make your business more defensible in the face of potential restrictions on in-person sales.

Reports

Data about customer and employee habits can be tracked and logged, meaning that trends will appear in the data over time. This allows managers to make intelligent decisions, with specific insights on factors including which employees clock in and out on time, which customers buy the most, and which items sell best on which day of the week. Accounting data can be automatically processed with integrations available from Lightspeed, and all reports can be exported to PDF or Excel.

Video: How to Make a Sale in Lightspeed Retail

Lightspeed Hardware

You don't need to invest in one of Lightspeed's hardware packages to use the system – you'll be able to get by with only an iPad, a MacOS device, or a Windows PC.

However, Lightspeed does offer a range of products that can make your life (and your customers' lives) so much easier.

For example, its iPad hardware kit includes a LAN receipt printer (with paper), a cash drawer, a Bluetooth scanner, and a branded iPad stand. Meanwhile, the desktop hardware kit includes a USB receipt printer, a cash drawer, and a USB scanner.

Find out more – Best iPad POS Apps 2021

Sadly, Lightspeed doesn't make its prices for these packages available publicly – you'll have to head to the company directly for a quote.

If you have existing hardware, there's a chance that it might work with Lightspeed. However, the company doesn't guarantee anything.

It's worth noting that Lightspeed does not offer integration with weighing scales, so if you're looking for that kind of hardware – for a grocery store or similar – you'll be better off finding another provider.

Lightspeed Alternatives

Of course, Lightspeed isn't the only POS system on the market. In fact, it's going head-to-head with some of the biggest names in the business, including Square and Vend POS.

So, how does it compare?

Lightspeed is more expensive than its competitors, which might put some people off.

However, while you will have to pay extra, Lightspeed does bring fantastic till features and excellent inventories. Plus, the company is continually bringing extra features to bear with its recent acquisitions.

Verdict: Lightspeed Commerce POS

Lightspeed's pricing might be a little above the norm, but its strong feature set and ease of use still make it a viable option.

Lightspeed would make a decent choice for any retail business with complex inventories that needs an easy to set up POS system.

To make sure Lightspeed Commerce is the best fit for your business, why not try it out, free of charge, for 14 days. You'll be under no obligation to stick with it if it doesn't work for you, either.

Lightspeed FAQs

Let's take a look at the internet's most widely asked questions about Lightspeed.